ANC wins 249 seats

Pretoria - Thirteen parties won seats in the National Assembly, IEC chairwoman Pansy Tlakula announced at the release of the final election results in Pretoria.

“A record of 29 parties contested these elections,” she said.

“Out of these, 13 have received sufficient votes to have representation in the National Assembly.”

The ANC received 249 seats while the official opposition, the Democratic Alliance received 89 seats.

Newcomers the Economic Freedom Fighters received 25, the third highest number, while the Inkatha Freedom Party received 10 and its breakaway party the National Freedom Party received six.

The United Democratic Movement and the Freedom Front Plus both received four seats, while the Congress of the People, AIC and the African Christian Democratic Party secured three seats each.

Mamphela Ramphele's Agang SA got two seats.

The African People's Convention and the Pan Africanist Congress received one seat each.

The number of seats each political party won in the National Assembly:

- APC 1

- PAC of Azania 1

- Agang SA 2

- ACDP 3

- AIC 3

- Cope 3

- UDM 4

- FF Plus 4

- NFP 6

- IFP 10

- EFF 25

- DA 89

- ANC 249

The 73.43 percent voter turnout during the general elections showed that democracy was thriving, Tlakula said.

“Today we celebrate two decades of democracy and conclude the fifth democratic national and provincial elections we can confirm to the world democracy is well and thriving in this land,” she said.

“Even as we made our choices, it is a powerful reminder of what binds us together.” It was on May 10, 20 years ago that former president Nelson Mandela was inaugurated as the country's first democratic president.

“As the whole world watched on May 10... our freedom was the celebration of the entire world as our president reached out to friends and foes alike,” Tlakula said.

“Today we affirm our nations commitment. “

The fifth democratic elections of South Africa proceeded smoothly and peacefully, Tselane said on Saturday.

“Ladies and gentlemen, these elections were not perfect – no elections is,” he said.

“We will see where mistakes were made and how best to prevent those in the future.

“This election has showed that we have much to be proud of as a nation,” he said.

He said voters waited on average for 16 minutes in the queues before voting.

About 97 percent of voters expressed satisfaction with how the elections proceeded on election day on Wednesday, he said.

He said history would show that this year's elections were the best run the country ever had.